South Korea plans to unveil further standalone sanctions against North Korea this week, including a ship entry ban, as part of efforts to tighten its squeeze on its errant neighbor and shore up a recent U.N. resolution, officials said Sunday.
While the Security Council was crafting fresh measures, Seoul has been speeding up its own sanctions drive in response to the North’s latest nuclear and missile tests, shutting down a joint factory park across the border.
The fresh steps will likely include a ban on third-country-flagged vessels that make a stay in North Korea and the freeze of a trilateral logistics project with Russia. The upcoming announcement may also include blacklisting new North Korean entities and individuals suspected to be involved in Pyongyang’s weapons program.
“The measures should come out this week, just as timely as they can. One would be concerning maritime transport, and the Rajin-Khasan project with Russia is also on the table,” a Foreign Ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity.
Crewmen of the North Korean cargo vessel Jin Teng stand on the middle of the deck as it unloads its cargo while docked at Subic Bay, northwest of Manila, Friday. (AP-Yonhap)
Appearing on MBC earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said there would be consultations “in the near future” between Seoul and Moscow over the impact of the UNSC resolution on the three-way program.
The Russian-led initiative calls for refurbishing the North Korean port city of Rajin and laying a 54-kilometer railroad running through the nearby Russian town of Khasan to transport coal and other Russian products. South Korea’s KORAIL, POSCO and Hyundai Merchant Marine have been taking part.
“The time will come soon for us to conduct a necessary review in line with the latest resolution and discussions with the Russian side. ... (The Rajin-Khasan project) is relevant to the steps our government will take,” the minister said.
“(The forthcoming unilateral measures) will likely be announced at a very early date so as to complement the enormous effects of the UNSC sanctions, and also to keep pace with the U.S. legislation adopted recently.”
South Korea had touted the project as a test bed for building confidence with the North and renewed cooperation with Russia. It was also the centerpiece of President Park Geun-hye’s “Eurasia initiative” -- she herself oversaw the signing of a related agreement on the sidelines of her summit with President Vladimir Putin in Seoul in November 2013.
With Pyongyang’s unabated provocations and nuclear ambitions, however, Seoul appears to be leaning towards curbing nearly all existing partnerships and means that may possibly benefit the Kim Jong-un regime.
“Now that we’re all out for a shift in North Korea, pressure and sanctions would inevitably continue to unfold in parallel until the regime changes its behavior,” the ministry official said.
“Our consideration on the Rajin-Khasan initiative is for a bigger cause. We’ll continue dialogue with China and Russia as they have also agreed that something must be done.”
In the aftermath of the latest provocations, South Korea pulled out from a joint factory park in a North Korean border city over concerns about the regime’s perceived siphoning off of its proceeds, while coordinating additional measures with the U.S., Japan and other like-minded nations.
The port entry ban appears to be another one of the few remaining options for Seoul given that most inter-Korean initiatives have already been on hold, including tours to a North Korean mountain resort. Bilateral trade and other exchanges are also barred by the “May 24 measures” levied after Pyongyang’s attack on a South Korean corvette in 2010.
The making of new penalties is being led by the Office for Government Policy Coordination, with participation from the foreign, unification, land and transportation, maritime and other ministries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said last week.
Tokyo, for its part, also imposed a ban last month on all North Korean ships, including on humanitarian missions and foreign-flag vessels with records of stopping in the communist country, from accessing the archipelago.
On Saturday, the Philippines said it had seized a North Korean freighter that was blacklisted by the newest U.N. resolution, marking the first case of the measure’s implementation since its passage last Wednesday. The 6,830-deadweight-ton Jin Teng was flying a Sierra Leone flag and unloading palm kernels upon its arrival on Feb. 27, Manila’s Foreign Ministry said.
In its own follow-up step, the European Union on Friday added 12 companies and 16 people to its list of sanctions targets that enforce travel bans and asset freezes.
By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
